Night in the Woods – PC

Night in the Woods is an upcoming single-player adventure video game for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4. It is being developed by Infinite Fall, a studio founded by game designer Alec Holowka, and animator/illustrator Scott Benson. It is an exploration game focused primarily on story in which players control a cat named Mae, who recently dropped out of college and has returned to her hometown to find unexpected change. It was funded via crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, where it eventually earned over 400% of its US$50,000 funding goal.[2]

In December 2014, Holowka and Benson, along with co-writer Bethany Hockenberry, released a companion game to Night in the Woods titled Lost Constellation.[3]

As Mae, players run, jump, and learn other mechanics that allow them to explore Possum Springs, a town populated by various anthropomorphic animals. Benson describes the key actions for the player are “explore, converse, see and touch”, while Holowka describes their approach as “narrative-focused” rather than “gameplay-first”.[4] Players will also make decisions that affect the course of the story, though Benson has said “It’s more like ‘do you hang out with this person?’ Okay, cool. That person might not know you as well by the end of the game, but this person you hung out with, you’re going to get to see their storyline.”[5]